Electrical railway system



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. P. B. MORSE. ELECTRICAL RAILWAY SYSTEM.

No. 449,227. E Patented Mar. 31,1891.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. F. B. MORSE. ELECTRICAL RAILWAY SYSTEM.

No. 449,227. Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

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SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL RAILWAY SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,227, dated March 31, 1891. Application filed October 29, 1890. Serial No. 369,653. (No model.)

1'0 all whom it may concern.-

B e it known that I, SAMUEL F. 13. Mouse, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Railway Systems, of which the following is a specificatlon, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

This invention is an improvement'in electric-railway systems in the means of conducting and delivering the electric currents generated at the central or power station to the cars carrying electromagnetic motors and running on the track or tracks of the system.

The object is to divide the feeding-conductor of an overhead trolley system into a number of comparatively short sections, and

to have only those sections live or in connection with the source of current with which cars are in actual connection, while the sections along the parts of the track upon which there are no cars are dead or disconnected from the source of current. To accomplish this I construct a line of supports along a track and suspend therefrom a conductor like those employed in the ordinary trolley systems. Instead of being continuous, however, this conductor is divided up into a number of disconnect-ed short sections. Each one of these sections has a corresponding section of equal capacity or conductivity, but insulated along its entire length either in an overhead cable or conduit or running under ground. The terminals of each adjacent pair of these sectional conductors are brought into proximity or into such relations that the ends of one pair may be readily connected with those of the next in such manner that either the insulated or exposed conductor of one section may be joined up with either of the conductors of the next, whereby the current may he confined to the insulated conductors or allowed to pass through those overhead or exposed sections only, with which cars may, at a given time, be connected. To do this practically requires some form of mechanism automatic in its character or operated by the moving cars. A simple means which I have devised for this purpose consists of a series of supplemental circuits running parallel with the track, each of the length of a section of the main conductor and containing electromagnets that control the switch mechanisms 10- eated at the junctions between the different conductor-sections and effect the proper connections. A trolley or traveling contact is carried by the ear in a position to run upon an exposed part of the supplemental circuits, and when it encounters any one of-such circuits the electro-m agnets thereon are operated and the switching mechanism shifted so as to throw the currentonto the corresponding sec tion of the main line. The mechanism for this purpose may be considerably varied, and that illustrated in the drawings is given mainly in illustration of the principle of construction and operation.

Figure 1 is a diagram of the circuits of the system. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of one of the conductor supports. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a conductorsupport. Fig. 4C is a diagram of a modified arrangement of circuits.

A designates the bed or line of rails of a track in a system of electrical propulsion, in which each of the ears, as B, carries an electromagnetic motor B, which is supplied with current from an overhead wire by means of a traveling contact or trolley O, which runs in contact with said overhead wire and completes the circuit from the same to ground through the motor.

D D represel'itsections of the overhead conductor, and E is the generator at the powerstation.

A conductor F brings the current from the generator to the starting-point of the track, where there is a contact-lever b, that is arranged to be shifted by an electro-magnet 0 against the force of a spiral spring (Z. Normally the lever b rests on a contact e'that is, one terminal of the undergound or insulated section G, that corresponds to the first overhead section of conductor D but when attracted by the magnet c it is shifted onto a second contaetf,\vhicli is the terminal of the overhead section D, and upon which it remains as long as the magnet c is active.

At the end of the first section of conductor D are two tcrminal plates y 71', to which the underground and overheadtsections, respectively, are connected. [With these plates is arranged a. lever Z), operated by an electromagnetc. Magnets c and c are included in a supplemental circuit H, which, beginning at the starting-point'of the track, runs through a bare trolley-wire vi to the end of section D, and then returns through the two magnets to the starting-point, where it is grounded at I. The same arrangement is repeated for each section along the entire line of travel, the lever, as l), of one section being connected by a conductor, as F, to the lever m of the next section. The lever m of the last section is connected by a conductor F" to the generator *1, either directly or through ground, at I I.

Each car carries a supplemental trolley J on the main trolley-arm or otherwise, which runs on the wires it. This trolley is insulated from the main trolley G and is in a circuit containing a battery K, which may be on the car and which has one pole grounded. When, therefore, a car reaches a section, as D, the contact of trolley J with wire 2" completes the circuit from the-battery K through the electromagnets c c, circuit H, and through the ground and ear-wheels back to battery. This energizes the magnets and shifts the levcrsrmn' from contacts e 6'', upon which they normally rest, ontocontacts ff and directs the current through the main trolley-wire section D. As long as the trolleyJ remains in contact with wire 7; this continues. \Vhen the trolley J leaves a section of wire, as 1 the current no longer passes through the electro-magnets in circuit with said wire, and hence the levers, asl) I), being retracted by their springs, shift onto contacts 6 g and direct the main current through the underground section G, leaving the corresponding overhead section isolated. This system involves main and supplemental trolley-wires and trolleys therefor; but this requirement is readily met by the use of a device constructed substantially as shown in Fig. 2. The trolley-arm L carries, in'addition to the main trolley C, a smaller or lighter trolley J, mounted on a bracket or arm. The two overhead conductors are mounted in any convenient manner, so as to lie in proper position for the two wheels to run on them.

The sections of conductor should beproperly arranged to permit the trolleys to pass from one to another without serious interruption to the circuit. For this purpose I have devised the support shown in Fig. 3. This consists, essentially, of a hollow column or standard M, with arms N at the top,which extend parallel to each other at right angles to the column. The ends of these arms come closely together and are provided with means of support for the wires D and 2' and D and z". The said wires are bent at right angles at the points of connection with the arms, thus leaving a break in the continuity of the troll lcy lines or tracks. The wires thus bent are l led into awate1 -tigl1torweather-proof casing l O on the column in which the magnets and switch-levers of Fig. l are contained, and from which the underground sections run down through the post to the conduit or cable. A single line of columns of this kind, with arms extending in two directions, would serve for a double track it placed between the two lines of rails.

That portion of the circuit II It not required as a trolley-wire may be run underground or protected in the same manner as the main insulated conductor-sections, as 1s indicated in Fig. i. It is also to be observed that the battery or source of current for. operating the magnets c 0' may be stationary, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, in which case the trolley .T-merely grounds the wire t or i. The current for the same purpose-may also be derived from the main line.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In an electrical railway system, the combination of an overhead trolley-conductor and an insulated or underground conductor, both being divided into corresponding and independent sections, switch-levers or devices at the junctions of said sections for connecting a conductor of one section with a conductor of another, whereby a section of" one circuit may be substitutedfor its corresponding section in the other,electro-magnets for operating said switch-levers, and supplemental circuits coextensive with and; corresponding to the. sections of the main conductor, including such magnets, and adapted to be controlled by the movements of: the cars along. the line of theconductors,as set forth.

2. In an electrical railway system having an overhead trolley-conductor divided into independent disconnected sections, the combination, with each section of the same, of a corresponding insulated or undergroundseetion, a supplemental trolley-wire forming part of a circuit coextensive with such. section, switeh-levers for connecting the ends of the conductors with those of conductors in adjacent sections, whereby any overhead section may be substituted for its corresponding underground section or conversely, and electro-magnets in the supplemental circuitsfor operating and controlling said. switch-levers, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In an electrical railway system, the combination, with a sectional overhead trolleyconductor, a sectional underground conductor, and supplemental trolley-circuits for controlling the connections between the two sectional conductors, of columns supporting the trolley-conductor and supplemental circuits and carrying junction-boxes, into which. the trolley and underground conductor-sections and supplemental circuits are led, asset forth.

at. In an electrical railway system, the combinntion, with main and supplemental liOlthe adjacent supplemental conductors, for

ley-conduetoi's divided into sections and an shifting said levers, as set forth. I0 underground conductor divided into come In witness whereof I have hereunto set my spending sections, of two eleetrically-eonneethand this 10th day of October, 1890.

ed contact-levers adapted to be shifted over SAMUEL F. B. MORSE.

the terminals of two adjacent sections of the I Witnesses:

maintrolleyand underground eonductorsmnd i ROBT. F. GAYLORD,

eleetro-magnets, one coni'lected with each of 1 PARKER W. PAGE. 

